insights from the british monarchy - BURA - Brunel University

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In a related vein, the analyses of the Crown reveal both explicitly and
implicitly that key corporate-level activities are interrelated and that there are
multi-lateral relationships between them. For these reasons, corporate brand
management, although undoubtedly of considerable importance, may in
certain context be viewed as a key element of a much broader gestalt: that of
corporate marketing (Balmer 1998). The nascent theory of corporate
marketing is that it should be viewed as an organisational-wide philosophy
and one that marshals corporate-level activities relating to corporate
branding, communications, identity and corporate image/reputation etc; its
position as an explicit function should be secondary to its status as an
organisational-wide philosophy. Moreover, the theoretical notion regarding
the efficacy of aligning key zones of corporate marketing is one that has been
a key concern for the Crown and would suggest the efficacy of such an
approach (Balmer and Greyser 2002).
The importance of stakeholder management is also significant since a careful
scrutiny of the key events detailed in this retrospective reveals that the
relative importance of stakeholder groups has shifted, quite markedly, with
the passage of time. Agle and Wood’s (1997) theory of stakeholder
identification is predicated on the existence of a meaningful institutionalgroup
relationships; as such one, or more, of the following attributes should
characterise such an association namely, power, legitimacy and/or urgency. This
analysis of the monarchy would suggest that this theory could be augmented
in order to accommodate temporal analyses of stakeholder relationships in
terms of power, legitimacy and/or urgency. This could provide meaningful
insight for the future dynamic of the brand/stakeholder dynamic; this is
equally important for the Monarchy as a brand along with other heritage
brands.
A key question of corporate marketing is the following: ‚Can we, as an
institution, have meaningful, positive and profitable bilateral on-going relationships
with customers, and other stakeholder groups and communities? (Balmer and
Greyser 2006)
For the British Monarchy, for which the concepts of corporate marketing and
corporate branding are likely to be displeasing, the above can, as a first
attempt, be amended as follows: Can we, the British Monarchy* have meaningful,
positive and beneficial bi-lateral on-going relationships with British*people, society,
institutions and culture mindful of the promises made at the Coronation and in
accordance with the precepts of the United Kingdom’s constitutional monarchy?‛
(*can be adapted for the Queen’s other Realms/the Commonwealth).
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